Pyrland School
Cheddon Road, Taunton, TA2 7QP
This school is closed (it closed in January 2026).
It was replaced by Pyrland School. That page has the school's current information.
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Headteacher
- Mr Mark Lawrence
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Diocese
- Diocese of Bath and Wells
- Constituency
- Taunton and Wellington
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,050
- Pupils on roll
- 1,029
- URN
- 136193
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Website
- School website
About this school
Pyrland School was a Church of England secondary academy in Taunton. It taught children aged 11 to 16 and had 1,029 pupils on roll.
Ofsted did not inspect it under the current framework.
Ofsted judgement
Pyrland School has not been inspected by Ofsted yet. It opened in its current form in September 2010, and new or converted schools usually wait a few years for their first inspection.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 145 | 168 | 160 |
| Attainment 8 score | 33.2 | 37.7 | 35.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.01 -1.25 to -0.77 | -0.68 -0.91 to -0.46 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 23% | 32.1% | 25.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 43% | 56% | 51.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 6% | 14.3% | 5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.7 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Pyrland School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Somerset average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 33.2 | 36.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 37.7 | 34 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 35.8 | 32.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 13.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 12.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 872 |
| 2023/24 | 958 |
| 2024/25 | 996 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Pyrland School compares
Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 28% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 35.8 | 12.1% | 29.4% | 1,029 | — |
| Pyrland School | — | — | — | — | 0.1 miles |
| The Castle School | 53.4 | 7.2% | 13% | 1,207 | 1.6 miles |
| Monkton Wood Academy | 41.4 | 11.3% | 22.9% | 1,267 | 1.7 miles |
| Bishop Fox's School | 46.9 | 7.4% | 22.2% | 1,123 | 2.3 miles |
| Haygrove School | 48.8 | 10.3% | 22.1% | 1,051 | 6.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 29.42%
- English as an additional language
- 14.4%
- Overall absence
- 12.08%
- Persistent absence
- 32.68%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Pyrland School0.1 miles
Secondary · Taunton
-
The Castle School1.6 miles
Secondary · Taunton
-
Monkton Wood Academy1.7 miles
Secondary · Taunton
-
Bishop Fox's School2.3 miles
Secondary · Taunton
-
Haygrove School6.8 miles
Secondary · Bridgwater
Other schools in Taunton
- Bishop Fox's School Secondary
- Kingsmead Academy Secondary
- Monkton Wood Academy Secondary
- Pyrland School Secondary
- The Castle School Secondary
- Bishop Henderson Church of England Primary School, Taunton Primary
- Bishops Hull Primary School Primary
- Bishops Lydeard Church School Primary
- Blackbrook Primary School Primary
- Cheddon Fitzpaine Church School Primary
- Churchstanton Primary School Primary
- Cotford St Luke Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Pyrland School teach?
- Pyrland School taught children aged 11 to 16. It was a secondary school in Taunton.
- Has Pyrland School been inspected?
- Ofsted has not inspected Pyrland School under its current framework, so no current judgement is shown. That is common for newer schools and is not a mark against a school.
- How big is Pyrland School?
- Pyrland School had 1,029 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- How have Pyrland School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 33.2 in 2022/23 and 35.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What are Pyrland School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Pyrland School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.